Recently, there has been great interest in outdoor theaters , given that projector prices are falling like crazy, commercial movie theaters are becoming more annoying to attend due to rowdy patrons, high ticket prices, or both, and the nostalgic desire to re-create the outdoor drive-ins we used to attend when we were kids.
I know that here in the SF east bay we used to have lots of drive-ins, and here in Hayward I believe we had at least one and a massive one in adjacent Union City. Sadly, I never visited either of those places but I wanted to recreate that feeling here in my backyard, or in this case my driveway, since it was big enough and the house shielded us from the winds at night.
I didn’t want to invest a lot of money in this project, figuring I’d be using this only a couple of times a year, so scouring through craigslist and amassing audio/video pieces from family and friends I was able to create my outdoor drive-in.
Total cost: under $50
The screen itself is made from thick 1” honeycomb cardboard panels used to protect large sheets of matboard paper (I work in a picture framing facility in SF).
The material is very light, maybe 7-8lbs per panel. It is held in place using Velcro I bought at Home Depot.
The screen is currently 165” diagonal.
But recently I was able to get even larger panels, so now my 2008 screen will measure a staggering 207”. All of the panels were free.
The projector is a craigslist find: Someone deciding to part with it because they thought the lamp had died. They were wrong- the lamp was seated incorrectly. They parted this NEC MT810 for $10.00 with almost 1000hrs left on the lamp.
The audio components were no-name flea market Chinese speakers. The sub is a from Sony HTIB and the amp driving it is a 45w from Parts Express. All were gifts or unneeded equipment. And to those who need to know: Yes, a sub does help significantly in filling out the sound, not necessarily adding heavy bass to the experience. You could always opt for a bigger sub, but whichever way you go, it will help.
I made mdf makeshift stands to hold the to the floor or on the fence
The other components again were craigslist finds- a dvd/vcr for $20 allows me to catch tv signals or watch dvd movies. Right now you see a denon and a another old receiver. They both finally crapped out and now I’ll be using my Carver TFM15 for amplifier duties. I also have an old Chase HTS-1 passive surround sound system so the 2 channels will translate into 4. A mini-system will power up the dual centers.
All in all, I'm happy with the setup. I'll have to work on getting more unified outdoor furniture but who's complaining when you've got a beer in your hand and you're watching with your buds
Victor